Steve Jobs 1955-2011

It sucks getting older. There are any number of reminders of that fact on a regular basis as I move through my 40s. A kid in college, the aches and pains from moving my body too quickly, the paunch that I struggle to keep under control, and the most annoying might be having to get up most nights to go to the bathroom when I should be sleeping.
One of the saddest reminders, however, is the all too regular passing of someone we admire, someone we know, someone we love. I haven’t had much death in my life to this point, fortunately. I lost a friend, a former boss, while away at college. A good friend, only slightly older was killed earlier this year. And I lost someone I admired yesterday.
I never met Steve Jobs. Never saw him speak in person, never worked at Apple, and rarely used their computers. However Steve Jobs was one of the few people that I wanted on my “what three people I would invite to dinner” list. Apple has always been a “cool” company to me, one that transcended the engineering efficiency of so many technology companies to build something that you could use, but more importantly, you wanted to use.
The comparison that came to mind this morning as I lay in bed, thoughts churning about both my day and the loss of someone I admired was the same one that Dave Winer wrote about in his memorial post: Frank Lloyd Wright.
The design, the clean, clear lines, the lack of anything extra was both elegant and insanely frustrating at times. However also genius, and reminiscent of not a better way to do things, but of the future.
That’s what Steve Jobs brought with both design and form in the Macintosh, the NeXt, Toy Story, the iPod, the iPhone, the Air, and the iPad.
The future.

Feel good Story - How I Harnessed the Wind

From TED, worth watching. The message is more powerful than the story. Trust yourself and try.

 

How I Harnessed the Wind

The World Peace Game

Our children are the future. Whether we like it or not, we will cede control to them at some point in our lives. It’s one of those things that makes me believe the investments in education are important, perhaps even more important than some of the other places where we spend money.

This is a great talk from John Hunter, teacher in my native VA. It talks about a game for fourth graders that helps them to learn and understand the world, and in many ways, learn to think about their impact on the world.

Here’s the link: http://www.ted.com/talks/john_hunter_on_the_world_peace_game.html

It’s humorous and inspiring. Someone that recognizes children are not only our future, but that they have perspectives worth listening to.

Live and enjoy your life

You never know when the end will come. A good friend of mine died a couple weeks ago at the age of 47. He left behind a wife, 4 children, and many friends and extended family. He never saw it coming. In The Last Post, Derek Miller is dead, he knew it was coming, and prepared a post.

We don’t know when the end will come, but it will come. We are all dying, hopefully slowly, but at some point we will move on.

Invest for the future, work to build the life that matters to you, but don’t forget to live along the way and enjoy your short time in this world.

Accepting death, and making a final post, inspired me. I hope I get the chance to walk out of this world in a similar way.